All people are on a journey of self-discovery to understand their true self and relationship to others as part of God's diverse creation. The ego, which seeks approval and control, is not who we truly are but rather a social mask. Our true self is influenced only by God's love and is free of fear, the need for approval, or desire for external power or control. Knowing our true self, which is based in God, allows us to humbly use our gifts to serve others through caring, setting boundaries, creativity, generosity, and dealing honestly with all people.

1. Thoughts about Self versus Ego
All of us are on a life journey of discovery to understand who we really are - our essential Self
and our relationship to each other – we represent the diversity of God’s creation. This great
diversity complicates and obfuscates our view, but God loves all of us – he loves our enemy as
much as he loves us; it is simply His nature to love.
With such diversity of God’s creation how are we to make sense of ourselves?
The understanding of Self is complicated. Self is used here to mean the center of one’s spirit/
soul – the essence of our being.
From a religious perspective, one’s existence can only be seen in the context of God’s creation -
we are influenced by God’s thoughts and actions. As part of God’s creation, our internal
reference is God’s love of us, and not from the objects of our experience whether they are
persons or things.
We struggle with this because our Ego (the center of our conscious identity) is an almost
overpowering force. When our internal reference point is directed by our Ego, we are always
influenced by objects outside of Self, which include situations, circumstances, people, and
things. We seek approval; our thinking and behavior are always in anticipation of a response
from others. In Ego-focused identity we also feel a compulsion to control things – we feel a
need for external power so our Ego can feel strong and provide identity protection.
The Ego, however, is not who we really are. The Ego is our self-imagine; it is our social mask;
the role(s) we are playing. Our social mask thrives on approval; it wants to control us and
others, and it is sustained by the power of deception because it lives in fear of discovery. The
need for approval, the need to control things, for external power are needs that are based on
fear. That kind of power is not the power of Self – our spiritual Self. When we experience the
power of Self, there is an absence of fear, no need to control, and no struggle for approval or
external power ( there is great power in surrendering ( Matthew 16:26; Luke 12:34; Matthew
18:1-4).
Our true Self is completely free of those things. It is immune to criticism; it is not fearful of any
challenge, and it feels beneath no one, and yet it is also humble and feels superior to no one,
because it recognizes that everyone is the same in Self - the same as created by God merely
seen in different disguises.
Ego based power, lasts only as long as the object of reference is present. If you have a certain
title, if you are president of a corporation, an organization or even a church, if you have an
abundance of financial resources, ego based power will only last as long as those things last.
This Ego focused identity can be a real trap in separating us from our true Self – ( Luke 12:16-21
; Matthew 19;16-22). What profit any of us without the love and grace of God?

2. The power of Self is permanent because it is based on the knowledge of who and whose we
really are. It draws people to us. Spirit focused power which comes from God enjoys friendship,
caring about and working with others, setting appropriate boundaries, creativity, generosity,
hard work, learning new things, and dealing honestly with ourselves and others - a power based
on God’s great love for all of us. A knowledge of Self leads us to the natural humility of
understanding our gifts and limitations. It gives us life’s purpose.(Matthew 18: 12-14; Luke 15:
11-32; Matthew 25: 31-46).
9.21.2015